Curiosity's left front wheel, sol 411

Curiosity took this photo of its left front wheel on sol 411 (October 2, 2013). A hole in the wheel is visible. Holes in the wheels are not a concern for the Curiosity mission; such wear and tear is expected, especially in the thinnest areas of the wheels between the treads.

Comments:

torn peace is foil thin, cold that be just inside coating that got scraped off?

Boris: 10/03/2013 01:48 CDT

Oh, I see, they are foil thin, nwm.

Emily Lakdawalla: 10/03/2013 05:52 CDT

Jason: they don't need it, and weight costs. Also, goals of this mission are in part to detect organic compounds -- it would massively contaminate the environment to coat your wheels with a material made of organic compounds and then attempt to detect organic compounds on Mars.